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CHAPTER NINE
By Wednesday, Zach had finished painting the eaves of the house and the spindles on the porch railing white, a crisp contrast to its freshly painted pale blue siding.
He’d also emptied over four hundred .45 caliber rounds into the target out by the barn, stopping only when the ache in his shoulder and the pain in his right wrist grew unbearable. The 9mm Sig would have created less repetitive stress with its lighter kick, but he’d been determined to push himself.
The paper target and thin plywood frame behind it were reduced to shreds. And still he couldn’t stop thinking about the time he’d spent with Dana on Saturday night.
If Katie hadn’t been so upset when they’d arrived back at the Rocking H, he had no doubt that he and Dana would’ve talked into the night.
But growing too close would be a big mistake.
She had a life here, with roots as deep as those of the old oaks shading her home. The minute he obtained medical clearance, Zach would need to be back in Dallas, using every resource at his disposal to track and capture the low-life who’d threatened Katie’s safety.
But even after this guy was caught, there would always be other cases. Other situations to take him away from home for weeks and or even months at a time. It was no life for a family man...and not a life that could be pursued from Colorado’s back of beyond, either.
Zach rubbed a weary hand over his face and sank into one of the wicker chairs on the porch. Out in the yard, the peacock and geese poked through parched grass in search of food. Katie’s puppy lay on its back in the late afternoon sun, all four feet in the air.
At the sound of small bare feet and the screech of the screen door behind him, he turned. “Hi, honey. Did you have a good nap?”
One arm wrapped tightly around her doll, she rubbed her eyes and silently shuffled forward into his open arms. He settled her on one thigh and she sank against him, her soft, warm body limp and trusting.
She hadn’t slept well for four nights. The first night, she’d whimpered, tossed and turned, crying out for her mother, barely settling down before the cycle started once again.
The last three nights, she’d awakened screaming, her eyes wide open and staring into the night, yet she hadn’t seemed to be aware of him, and hadn’t responded to any of his efforts to comfort her.
These were night terrors, according to the parenting paperback he’d bought at the drugstore in Fossil Hill. Probably due to her mother’s disappearance and her frightening abduction after the bombing of his condo, which was certainly no surprise. But the episodes were leading to utter exhaustion for both of them.
“Do you know what we should do?” he asked, giving her an extra hug. When she didn’t look up, he continued anyway. “We should go over to Alex and Molly’s place for a visit.”
He felt her stiffen.
“Wouldn’t that be fun? We could stop at the clinic and ask Dana where the kids are. Maybe you could ride the pony again, and see the puppies.”
The sharp shake of her head couldn’t have been more adamant.
“Why don’t you want to go over there?”
She burrowed closer to his chest.
“Were you afraid of the animals?”
Silence.
“Did...the kids play too rough?” At her lack of response, he searched for what else it could be. “Was it that I left you there? I promise—we can go together, and I won’t leave you, okay?”
When she gave an almost imperceptible nod, he dropped a kiss on her forehead and scooted her off his lap. “Let’s see, young lady. Are you still clean enough to go visiting? Hmm...you look as pretty as a petunia.”
She didn’t respond to his gentle teasing. Instead, she just looked up at him from under her eyelashes, the faded doll still wedged in the crook of her arm, and he wondered what it would take to ever reach the child behind that renewed wall of reserve.
Just to see this dejected little cherub laugh and sing and play like a normal three-year-old would be worth almost any price.
“Hey, I’ve got a good idea. After you visit Molly, would you like to go into town? I think you need some more outfits, and I think I saw some awfully pretty dolls in the front window of the Pink Petticoat. Do you suppose they might be for sale?”
